Former 1st-round pick Nick Loftin among 19 non-roster invitees to KC Royals spring camp

Former first-round draft pick and highly rated prospect Nick Loftin headlines a group of 19 players who received non-roster invitations to the Royals’ major-league camp next month in Arizona.

An infielder/outfielder ranked among the top 10 prospects in the Royals’ farm system by both MLBPipeline.com (No. 4) and Baseball America (No. 8), Loftin was the 32nd pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.

Loftin is one of 12 position players invited to big-league camp despite not being on the club’s 40-man roster.

Nine of the non-roster invitees are pitchers. The club announced the 19-player group of invitees on Wednesday.

The non-roster pitchers invited to camp are left-handed pitcher Austin Cox and right-handed pitchers Andrés Núñez, Yefri Del Rosario, Ryan Weiss, Brooks Kriske, Mike Mayers and Nick Wittgren.

The position players include catchers Logan Porter, Luca Tresh, Tyler Cropley and Jakson Reetz, infielders Clay Dungan, Tyler Tolbert, infielder/outfielder Matt Beaty and Loftin, as well as outfielders Tyler Gentry, Brewer Hicklen, John Rave and Dairon Blanco.

Gentry and Tresh are also rated among the club’s top prospects.

Gentry, selected in the third round of the 2020 draft, earned the organization’s Double-A Player of the Year award last season.

Baseball America ranks him the N0. 7 prospect in the Royals’ farm system, while MLBPipeline.com ranks him No. 8. Baseball America dubbed him the “Best Hitter for Average” in the Royals’ system. Gentry slashed .321/.417/.555 in 73 games at Double-A after a promotion from High-A.

MLBPipeline.com ranks Tresh, drafted in 2021, the No. 15 prospect in the Royals’ system. Baseball America dubbed him the “Best Defensive Catcher” in the system. Tresh also belted 19 home runs in 104 games in the minors.

Hicklen, the organization’s Triple-A Player of the Year, slashed .248/.348/.502 with 85 runs scored, 30 doubles, 28 home runs, 85 RBIs and 35 stolen bases. He recorded the fourth season of at least 20 doubles, 20 homers and 20 steals by a Royals minor-leaguer since 2005.

Nunez, a reliever, earned the organization’s Triple-A Pitcher of the Year award last season. He posted a 3.61 with a 1.30 WHIP and a 4.06-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Cox, a fifth-round draft pick in 2018, went 7-7 with a 4.21 ERA in 29 appearances (24 starts) with one complete game and one save last season at Triple-A. He threw 147 1/3 innings last season in the minors. Baseball America ranked him among the organization’s top 30 prospects from 2019-22.

Players already on the club’s 40-man roster are automatically invited to big-league spring training.

The club now has 59 players slated to attend camp in Arizona next month.